A massive terror attack that could have caused "significant" loss of life was averted this morning when a car bomb packed with nails, gas canisters and containers of petrol apparently failed to detonate outside a London nightclub.

Police were called to Tiger Tiger nightclub in the West End when smoke was seen coming from the inside of a Mercedes car parked outside. A man was seen running from the vehicle.

Inside officers discovered a "significant quantity" of petrol, nails and gas cylinders. They used a remote-controlled device to check the vehicle before bomb squad officers made it safe.

If the bomb had exploded, police said that the shrapnel would have killed or injured anyone within a wide area. The bomb itself could have caused a fireball as big as a house followed by a large shock wave.

It’s instructive to read the comments after the UK newspaper articles to get an idea of the extent of anti-americanism in one of our closest allies, and the stark cultural and religious divide that our friends there are confronting. Here is the first posted comment:

Yes it could have been Islamic terrorists who carried out this failed attack, but why has no one mentioned the CIA or Mossad, or even MI5? If America and Israel are prepared to go to war and kill innocent people to “protect their people” and support democracy, then why not carry out a plot which is not intended to cause casualties, but hopefully we be a sign to Gordon Brown that there is a “war on terror” going on, and he’d better support America(which is a slave of Israel) in this war.

People should realise that the American and Israeli governments and military are terrorists too.

What a horrifying comment from the UK paper, #1. It is truly hard to believe that some people think that radical Muslims did not commit the 9/11 bombings in the US or the 7/11 bombings in London. I note that the London police are being properly cautious about assigning blame for this bomb. One would assume it’s radical Islamists, but only hard evidence will demonstrate who it was or wasn’t. Whoever it was is a monster. This bomb was packed with nails for the purpose of inflicting maximum damage on humans who happen to be nearby when it explodes.

I write to you from London, where I am a Catholic priest, to draw your attention to the fact that the Muslim Council of Britain has condemned the attempted bombing and has called on all Muslims to help the police catch those responsible.

Steven, consider the name of the commenter you posted. There can be no doubt that he speaks more for the Muslim community in Britain than the majority of our “closest ally”. They kind of insanity he illustrates is rampant in the Middle East, as well as Muslim communities all over Europe.

Fr Terry, I hope the call is sincere and brings a vigorous response. Words are cheap. The civilized world needs action from the civilized Muslims: tips, surveillance, even citizens’ arrests of the rat bastards who do this. You would think they would have every incentive. If Islam can be defiled by some silly cartoon, how much is it defiled by those who would commit mass murder of innocents in the name of their god?

As to who did this: Am I sure it was an Islamic criminal? What would your bet be if you had to put your own money on the line? What kind of favorable odds would you demand to bet on, say, the IRA? Or some militia group in Montana?

Before we feel a frisson of grim satisfaction at yet more evidence of Muslim nefariousness, could I point out that we Christians pay a terrible price for this? There is, I am convinced, a sinister alchemy at work in the mindset of many European and some American liberals:
1) Islam seems peculiarly able to brew suicide bombers, terrorists and the like;
2) but we if condemn Islam then we will be accused of Islamophobia or racism, or intolerance.
3) We will therefore condemn all religion as dangerous delusion. We will say that all religion leads to hate crime.
4) This will give us a handy weapon against our own historic and nearest religion, Christianity.

#7, I suspect Fr Terry, that you are not too far wide of the mark, in your positing the end game for the secular liberal humanists.

I suppose then, that all those, who hold truly to their religion, no matter which religion is may be, ought to constantly condemn ALL those who defame their religion, whether they are rabid murderers, or oh, so sophisticated, humanists out to destroy ALL religion.

We ought NOT allow these secularists a free course of action in their destructive course, but ought to challenge them at every event; in the press, in public debates, in coffee houses, in local councils, in Parliament, in fact everywhere we meet them.

In this current London event, I suppose that we ought to be very thankful, that in addition to being rabid murderers, these folks are also seemingly, dimbulbs who are inefficient in their chosen career of wanton murder.

One of the first reports I heard, is that by-standers blew the whistle on the 1st car, after seeing smoke coming from it and thereby, waving a huge warning flag. The good news is neither of these devices detonated, thus saving lives of who knows how many innocents. This good news should take note of the action of the heroic policeman, who put his life on the line to defuse the bomb.

At the end of the day Fr. Terry, I will be happier with the official Muslim community in the UK, if they actually do raise the hue and cry within their own communities and finger the weasels who tried to do this.

They have succeeded in suppressing comment and criticism, from within their own community, much like the immigrant Italian population in NY & Chicago, were suppressed by the local thugs roaming their neighborhood streets, demanding *protection* money so the shop would not be fireburned.

Whenever good people, fail to act in community, against those who are predators within their community, then the predators win. Either people stand up for themselves, or they are sheep; they are either free citizens, or cowering subjects.